Midfielder George Glendon scored his first professional goal in Tuesday's victory over Morecambe in the Checktrade Trophy and we caught up with him shortly after full-time to get his thoughts on what had been an excellent finish.
“It sat up nicely for me on the edge of the box and I just thought ‘why not?’,” he admitted. “It’s my first professional goal so I’m really happy with it.
"When it came out to me I just wanted to shoot because I’ve been told to do it more. I tried to set myself up and thankfully my first touch did that.
“It was a great feeling when it hit the back of the net, even though I didn’t really celebrate ... probably because I’m not used to it! It got us back in the game and we were able to kick on from there.
"I think my last goal was probably when I was at City, but I used to play higher up, where Dev plays. Sometimes when you’ve waited a while you can go on a little run, but everyone always seems to score a screamer for their first goal! I’ll take a few tap-ins though.
“The goal will give me massive confidence because I know I need to score more, personally and for the team. If I can get ten goals from midfield then it really helps the team, so that’s an area I’m looking to improve in my game."
On what was a good overall team display, he said: “We got told to express ourselves and sometimes in that type of game you can do that more than you maybe would in a league game.
"More importantly we need to try and take this performance into the league and try and build on it. Hopefully we can do that on Saturday.
“We’ve got good character in the dressing room and even though we went a goal down we were still confident of getting a goal and getting back into the game. We go into every game thinking we can get something out of it."
It was another night where the goal scorers conducted their own goal-of-the-game competition with Macaulay Gillesphey and Jerry Yates weighing in with their own extremely eye-catching finishes.
“It was a good goal from Macca [Macaulay Gillesphey] as well, but it doesn’t matter who scores as long as we get the win," he told us. "We were disappointed at Mansfield, especially with the second half performance, because we came out sloppy and we didn’t really play to our standards.
"They scored a penalty and we could have got something out of the game, so it was frustrating. It was important we bounced back from that against Morecambe and we did that with a win."
The pitch time, as ever, was an opportunity to remind the coaching staff of what he can do as he looks to fight for his place in midfield.
“All you want to do whenever you’re on the pitch is give the gaffer things to think about, and I think he’s got tough choices to make now," he said. "We’ve got Jack [Sowerby] here now as well, so there is a lot of competition.
"We’re all playing well and we’ve all got to try and get in the team. With the quality we’ve got, we know we can’t switch off, even for a minute. You’ve got to make sure you’re on it all of the time. You’ve got to try and take that into games and try and impress, that’s what it’s all about.
“I do feel like I’ve settled in quickly and the lads have really helped with that. Off the pitch especially, we’re a close bunch, and they’ve all made me feel welcome which helps you try and express yourself on the pitch."
“Cambridge is another long trip for the fans and it will be another hard game," he agreed. "We want to pick up another three points in the league and try and stay as high up that table as we can.
"We want to keep that winning mentality as much as we can, especially at home. We want teams coming up here knowing they’re going to be in for a tough game. If we can keep the wins coming at home, and make this a really tough place to come, with the fans right behind us, then it could be a good season.
“We’ve had a decent start and we just want to carry that on. I think in every game we’ve played in, it feels like we could have got something out of them all. We had a mad 20 minutes against Exeter but we still had chances to come back and get a point.
"Northampton at home could have been three points instead of one. We had three wins on the bounce which helped us all and hopefully we can try and get back to that."
“It feels like I've started the season ok," he concluded. "In the games I’ve come on in, the gaffer has said I’ve helped to control the game, but you don’t want to be one of those players who just comes off the bench.
"I want to start. Everyone is fighting for places and that makes the competition tougher. Whenever you play, you’ve just got to try and make it hard for him to pick the team for the next game."
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